The System of English Phonemes: Vowels

Unit 4

Modifications of Consonants in Connected Speech

As you may know, speech sounds influence each other in the flow of speech. As a result of the intercourse between sound, appear such processes of connected speech as

- assimilation

- accommodation

- vowel reduction

- elision (which is sometimes termed deletion).

The adaptive modification of a consonant by a neighboring consonant in the speech chain is known as assimilation.

The term accommodation is used by linguists to denote the interchanges of

vowel + consonant type

or

consonant + vowel type,

For instance some slight degree of nasalization of vowels preceded or followed by nasal sonorants: never, men; or labialization of consonants preceding the vowels [о], [у] in Russian: больно, конь, лучше. (For more info about consonant modifications see М.А. Соколова и др.; p.71-78).

One of the wide spread sound changes is vowel reduction. Reduction is actually qualitative or quantitative weakening of vowels in unstressed positions.

Elision, or complete loss of sounds, both vowels and consonants, is likely to be minimal in slow careful speech, and maximal in rapid relaxed colloquial forms of speech.

Д/з

1. Classification of Vowels

2. Modifications of Vowels in Speech

1. The quality of a vowel is known to be determined by the size, volume and shape of the mouth resonator, which are modified by the movement of active speech organs, i.e. the tongue and the lips. Besides, the particular quality of a vowel can depend on a lot of other articulatory characteristics, such as the relative stability of the tongue, the position of the lips, physical duration of the segment, the force of articulation, the degree of tenseness of speech organs.

The analysis of the articulatory constituents of the quality of vowels allowed phoneticians to suggest the criteria which are significant in classificatory description:

a) stability of articulation;

b) tongue position;

c) lip position;

d) character of the vowel end

e) length

f) tenseness.

Let’s consider the above-mentioned principles from phonological point of view.

a) Stability of articulation specifies the actual position of the articulating organ in the process of the articulation of a vowel. There are two possible varieties: a) the tongue position is stable, b) it changes, i.e. the tongue moves from one position to another. In the 1^st case the vowel is relatively pure, in the 2^nd case it consists of 2 clearly perceptible elements. There exists in addition a 3^rd variety, an intermediate case, when the change in the tongue position is fairly weak. So according to this principle the English vowels are subdivided into:

a) monophtongs

b) diphthongs

c) diphthongoids.

Here we have to admit that it is the case when explicit info about distinguishing between different degrees of instability is practically useful for teaching purposes. For the learner of English it’s important to know that the vowel [J] and [H] are diphthongized in Modern English and the tendency for diphthongization is becoming stronger.

Russian scholars grant the English diphthongs monophonemic status on the basis of the articulatory, morphological and syllabic indivisibility. It could be proved by the fact that neither morpheme nor syllable boundary that separate the nucleus and the glide can pass within it, for example: say-ing, en-joy-ing, cry-ing.

In teaching English special attention should be given to the pronunciation of English diphthongs, as the nucleus in strong and distinct, and the glide is weak and indistinct.

b) Let’s consider another principle – the position of the tongue. For the sake of convenience the position of the tongue in the mouth cavity is characterized from two aspects: the horizontal and vertical movement.

According to horizontal movement Russian phoneticians distinguish 5 classes of English vowels:

1) front: [J,e,eI,x,Fq];

2) front-retracted [I, Iq];

3) central [A, E:, q, qV];

4) back [P, L,H, R];

5) back-advanced [u, uq].

A slightly different approach is expressed by British phoneticians. They don’t single out the classes of front-retracted and back-advanced vowels. This point of view doesn’t seem to be consistent enough. The point is that the vowels

[i:] and [I],

[u:] and [u]

Differ in quality which is due to the raised part of the tongue.

According to vertical movement British and Russian phoneticians slightly differ in opinion.

British scholars distinguish 3 classes of vowels:

- high (or close)

- mid (half-open)

- low (or open) vowels.

Russian scholars made the classification mere detailed, distinguishing broad and narrow variations of the 3 vertical positions of the tongue:

1) close

a. narrow [J, H]

b. broad [I, V, Iq, Vq]

2) mid

a. narrow [e, E:,I, qV]

b. broad [q, A].

3) open

a. narrow [Fq,L,OI]

b. broad [x, QI, QV, P, R].

c) another principle of classification is lip rounding. Traditionally, 3 lip positions are distinguished, i.e. spread, neutral and rounded.

d) Another property of English vowels is checkness. This quality depends on the character of the articulatory transition from a vowel to a consonant. This kind of transition (VC) is very close in English unlike Russian. As a result all English short vowels are checked when stressed. The degree of checkness may vary and depend on the following consonant. Before fortis voiceless consonant it is more perceptible than before a lenis voiced consonant or sonorant. All long vowels are free.

Such words as «body, seven, better, matter» should be divided into syllables in such a way that the vowels should remain checked unlike Russian «Боря, Сева, бита, мята».

e) Now for another articulatory characteristic of English vowels – length or quantity. The English monophthongs are divided into and varieties according to their length:

a)short

b) long

f) Tenseness is another articulatory characteristic of English vowels. It characterizes the state of organs of speech at the moment of production of a vowel. Special analysis shows that long vowels are tense, and short vowels are lax. The distinction is important in teaching English, since there are no tense vowels in Russian.

2. Modifications of Vowels in Speech

The modifications of vowels in speech chain are traced in the following directions: they are either qualitative or quantitative or both.

The decrease of the vowel quantity or, in other words, the shortening of the vowel length is known as quantitative.

A. Modification of vowels.

1. The shortening of vowels occurs in unstressed positions. Form works often demonstrate qualitative reduction in unstressed positions.

2. The length of the vowel depends on its position in a word. It varies in different phonetic environments. English vowels are known to have positional length:

[ni: - ni:d – ni:t]

[i:] – is the longest in the final position, it’s shorter before the lenis voiced consonant [d], and it’s the shortest before the fortis voiceless consonant [t].

B. Qualitative modification occurs in unstressed positions.

1. In unstressed positions vowels of full value are subjected to qualitative changes:

[m x n] – [spLtsm q n].

[x] is reduced to the neutral [q].

The neutral [q] is the most frequent sound in English. It represents about 4% of all sounds. This high frequency of [q] is the request of the rhythmic pattern: if unstressed syllables are given a short duration, the vowel in them is reduced.

Slight degree of nasalization marks vowels preceded or followed by the nasal consonants [m] and [n].

e.g. never, no, then, men (accommodation).

The nasalization of reduction, assimilation and accommodation is connected with the style of speech. In rapid colloquial speech reduction may result in vowel elision (zero reduction).

So, we can conclude, that the degree of reduction is conditioned by the tempo, rhythm and style of speech.

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